Traction roll



De c. 14, 1954 G. L. FISK 2,596,907

TRACTION ROLL Original Filed April 19, 1944 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 G. L. FISK TRACTION ROLL Dec. 14, 1954 '7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed April 19, 1944 d M M m JW .fkw m G. L. F ISK TRACTION ROLL Dec. 14, 1954 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed April 19, 1944 w is INVENTOR mSw NE NE I KW ZOU-ZD FEES;

my x

Dec. 14, 1954 sK 2,696,907

TRACTION ROLL Original Filed April 19, 1944 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 LEADING BAR LEADING BAR INVENTOR A GuQsfa/L Fisk a. 1.. FISK TRACTION ROLL- Dec. '14, 1954 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Original Filed April 19, 1944 I k R s 2. m MK NNN m mNN I 6 gm mNN NNNI EN NNN g mwk EH QNN G. L. FISK TRACTION ROLL Dec. 14, 1954 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Original Filed April. 19, 1944 INVENTOR Gusfa/ LF/sk NNN United States Patent Office 2,695,907 Patented Dec. 14, 1954 TRACTION ROLL Gustaf L. Fisk, New Fail-field, Conn.

Continuation of abandoned application Serial No. 531,724, April 19, 1944. This application May 15, 1951, Serial No. 226,467

1 Claim. (Cl. 203310) This invention relates to the rolling of metal bars of a great variety of sections, commonly known as merchant bars and shapes, whereby they may be finished to precise dimensions within close tolerances, and with improved physical properties. This application is a continuation of my copending application Serial No. 531,724, filed April 19, 1944, now abandoned.

In my Patent No. 2,369,730 I pointed out the difficulties of rolling metal bars to precise dimensions by the methods and apparatus previously utilized. In said patent, furthermore, I disclosed and claimed a method of some limitation, however, by the fact that a cold bar of a given height will not enter a pass in rolls of a given diameter as readily as a hot bar of the same size, unless the pass reduction, i. e. the draft, is very much reduced. Furthermore, the cold-rolling operation requires that the bar be lubricated to ease the work of deformation and to reduce the wear on the rolls. This requirement in turn still further reduces the maximum drafts permissible for ready entry ofthe bar into the cold-mill rolls. It will also be readily understood that if the drafts in the cold-mill stands succeeding the first are great enough barely to feed the bar through the rolls, there will be little or no excess pull available to exert the required tension on the bar between roll stands.

The difficulty can be relieved by increasing the number of roll stands in the mill and, to some degree by increasing the diameters of the rolls, but these remedies would materially increase the cost of the mill. Larger roll diameters would also increase the necessary spacing of the roll'stands, thus increasing the lengths at the ends of each bar which have to be rolled without benefit of tension, thus increasing the scrap loss.

The methods disclosed in said patents require blanks of special dimensions or with pronounced major and minor axes. Special passes are thus required in the hot mill to furnish such blanks for cold-rolling into rounds. This need for special blanks is naturally an economic drawback, compared to the possible use of ordinary commercial hot-rolled rounds as blanks. Another point 'in the cold-rolling of rounds from ovals with pronounced major and minor axes is the difference in the amount of cold working in the directions of the two axes, which may have detrimental effects on the physical properties of certain grades of products.

his the object of the present invention to improve on the methods of said patents and particularly to provide the required tension by the aid of power-driven tension rolls effective to pinch the bar by an elastic grip over an area so large as not to cause deformation of the bar, but to maintain the bar under tension while the mill rolls reduce its section to the desired size. Such pinchrolls as are now available are useless for this purpose in that their rolls would furnish merely line contact with the bar. If the'pressure of such pinch rolls on the bar be increased to attain the necessary contact area, they Figure 4;

would cease to be merely pinch rolls and act to deform the bar, whereas my aim is to pull a finished bar from the mill rolls without further changing its shape or roughing its surface. To my knowledge there is no elastic material available for use in customary pinch rolls, which could bear directly on the bar and exert on it the required pressure, without deforming the bar.

Another object of my invention is to use the same power-driven tension rolls above referred to, in connection with leading bars attached to the blanks, as a means for pulling the blanks into the several roll passes; and thus to avoid the difliculties of bar entry above referred to.

Another object is to roll the entire blank to finished size, while progressively subjecting the bar from end to end to sufficient tension in the several roll passes, so as to practically eliminate scrap loss at the ends.

A further object is to make the rolling process largely independent of the spacing of roll stands, to allow more freedom of mill design.

Another object is to use ordinary commercial hotrolled rounds as blanks for cold-rolling. This is accomplished by a novel method of guiding the section delivered by the rolls to which the commercial round is fed for cold-rolling, so as to keep the bar from turning around its own axis during the cold rolling operation.

Still another object is to make feasible the rapid and economical cold-drawing of hot-rolled bars to precise dimensions and in cooling bed lengths, as a finishing operation, by aid of the power-driven tension rolls and leading bars, such as already referred to.

For a complete understanding of the invention and the novel features and advantages thereof, reference is made to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings. The latter illustrate the powerdriven tension rolls and diagrammatically the preferred practice of my invention as applied to coiled blanks, as well as cold-mill layouts and guiding equipment which I prefer to employ. In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a view partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, showing my tension roll apparatus;

Figure 2 is a plan view with a portion in horizontal section and with parts omitted, of the apparatus shown in Figure 1;

Figure 2A is a partial section similar to Figure 2, to enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the same apparatus, to reduced scale, with one vertical roll omitted;

Figure 4 is a partial section, on line IV-IV of Figure 2, showing the cross section of a tire and belt adapted to give the tension rolls an elastic grip on a round bar;

Figure 5 is a partial section on line VV of Figures 6 and 7, corresponding to Figures 4 and 5 respectively, show an alternate tire arrangement intended for use when greater bar tension is desired;

Figure 8 is an enlarged view of one of several clips, shown in the tires illustrated in Figures 5 and 7;

Figure 9 is a plan view of a cold mill equipped and arranged to practice my invention;

Figures 10 to 16 inclusive are side views, partly enlarged, showing a portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 9, to indicate diagrammatically the procedure in applying my invention to the cold-rolling of finished bars from coiled blanks;

Figures 17A and 17B together constitute a plan view of a modified form of cold mill proper, adapted to roll bars from commercial rounds as well as other sections and including a layout for the finishing end of the mill;

Figure 18 is a partial cross section of a guide taken on line XVIII-XV III of Figure 17A, with the corresponding section of commercial round and with the sections produceli in the several roll passes in the cold mill superim pose Figures 19 and 20 are plan views showing respectively the delivery guide of the first roll stand and the entry guide of the second roll stand of the mill shown in Figure 17A; and

Figures 21 and 22 are elevations respectively of the guides shown in Figures 19 and 20.

Referring in detail to the drawings and for the present to Figures 1 through 3, a stand of tension rolls such as l have in mind is preferably made like a vertical edging mill of the over-hung roll type, extensively used in the industry for the edging of flat products, except that I use different means in place of the usual edging rolls, as will now be explained. The housings L and 2 ofsuch an edging mill are individually'adjustable inhorizontal direction, towards or from a pass line 3, and carry power-driven vertical spindles 4- and 5 which project above the-housings- 1- and:2 and are provided with taperedends 6' and'nuts'l, or other suitable means, for the mounting: of the edgingrolls. Instead of ordinary rigid edging rolls, however, 1 employ rigid roll centers 8* on which are mounted flexible tires 9 of special construction, later to be explained. The tires 9' are adapted tofornr as indicated at 10', when the housings 1: and: 2 are moved to the proper positions to bring pressure to bear on a bar 11 subject to tension. In this manner the effective pressure on bar 11 is distributed over a substantial distance 12. The tires 9 revolve with the roll centers 8 on the'spindles 4 and 5 in the directions.

indicated by arrows 13 and in turn act as'drivepulleys for belts 14 of leather or the like, which have grooves- 15 to fit the particular size and shape of bar 11. Since the. groove 15 is shaped to contact a large portion of the contour of the bar 11, this contact multiplied by distance 12 insuresa large effective area for the exertion of the pressure required to carry the loads applied to the bar 1-1 through the travelling belts 14.

If the coefiicient of'friction between an oily bar 11 and the leather belt 14 be taken at .15, then a totalload of 15,000 lbs.. exerted on each side of the bar 1-1, by adjusting the housings. 1 and 2- in the manner already de scribed, would make it feasible to cause a pull of 4500 lbs. on bar 11 by rotation of the power-driven spindles 4 and 5 to drive the belts 14. With tires 9 of suitable material and an outside diameter of four feet, the effective pressure area above referred to, in case of a A" bar, would be approximately 5. square inches for each belt. For the abovetotal load of 15,000 lbs., therefore, the average, unit loadon such a bar would be in theneighborhood of 3000 lbs. per square inch. These figures serve to illustrate that a. metal bar 11' can be subjected to considerable pull by a single stand of tension rolls, without in any way. deforming the. bar, which ordinarily would have an elastic limit many times; that of the unit pressure towhichiit would be subjected by the tension rolls. Furthermore, if the tension applied be controlled so as not to exceed the frictional resistance between the barand the belts, there should be no slippage and consequently-no scuffing of the bar surface.

To steerthe belts 14: and keep them from slipping on the tires 9, they are engaged by idler pulleys 1'6, journaled on eccentrics 1.7 which turn on pins 18, the latter being,

rigidly secured to housings. 1 and 2. By aid of worms 19, mounted in housings 1' and 2 meeting with Worm wheels keyed to eccentrics 17, the tension in'belts14 can be adjusted. By turning the worms 19 and thus the eccentrics 17 a sufficient amount, the belts 14 can readily be released for. removal andreplacement by belts with other grooves 15, when changing the size or shape of the bar product.

To properly steer the belts 14 where they contact the bar 11, they and the tires 9 are supported in the vertical direction by rollers 21 and 22 mounted in journals 23 of bearings 24 on adjustable beams 25 and 26. The beam 25 is pivoted at 27 to a stationary frame 28 and the roller 21 is adjustable up or down by turning a nut 29' on a bolt 30, pivoted at 31 to a member 32 of a stationary frame 33. A yoke 34, supported on nut 29, bears. at 35 on a member 36 of beam 25, and a spring 37 bearing on a shoulder 38 of bolt land ashoulder 39 of member 36, serves to lower the beam 25 and the roller 21 to the position controlled by nut 29. By the same principle, a nut 40 and spring 41 control the position of the roller 22, by turning beam. 26 on a pivot 42 in the stationary frame 28. The pivot 42, however, isallowed movement in a slot 43 of frame 28, themovement being controlled by the pressure of a spring 44, which bears on member 45 in contact with pivot 42.; The spring 44 also bears on a movable member 46, supported by a. screw 47 in a threaded member 48 of. frame 28; The maximum load exerted on the belts 14 and tires 9 by the roller 22*is thus limited by the pressure of spring 44 irrespective of any 4; ordinary adjustment of nut 40, and the pressure of spring 44 is controlled by screw 47.

The stationary frames 28 and 33 are located between the housings 1 and 2 and clear the latter in their most advanced position with respect to the pass line 3. This is readily accomplished since the diameter of the tires 9 is much greater than the. roll diameter of any ordinary edging mill.

in changing the sizeor shape" of product handled, the belts can quickly be released for removal and exchange. By loosening; nuts 29 and 40 the rollers. 21 and 22 are moved to release the belts 14 and tires 9. The housings, 1 and 2 can thenbe moved away from thepass, line3 until the belts 14 clear the rollers 21 and. 22 and their bearings 24. By then turning the worms-19 in the manner already explained thebelts. are made free for removal and exchange.

It is important that the bar 11 be guided accurately in the vertical direction into. the passforrned by. grooves 15. To this end an adjustable roller guide, forme.d, by rollers 49 and 50, is placed close to the entry side of' the pass. Roller 50 is carried by a rocker arm 5 1 supported,

by a pin at 52 on the stationary frame 28, andpivoted' at.

53 to a link 54 which in turn is pivotedat 55toamember 56 of the frame. Each link 54 includes a bar 57 haviug a sleeve 58 formed atthe end thereof, and a rod 59' having a clevis at the upper endrby'which it ispivoted at 53 to the rocker arm 51. The lower end of the, rod 59. passes'through thesleeve 58 on thebar 57 andisthreadedi to receive nuts 60.. A compression spring 61 is disposed on the rod 59' between the clevis end thereof and. the

sleeve 58. By' adjustment of nuts the spring is put under compression and the roller 50 is brought to guiding position and supported by spring pressure, so as not. to mar or Work the surface of bar 11; The roller 49 is supported in a similar manner by rocker arm 62', pin 63, link 64 and spring-65,

The belts 14- are madeof leather or other suitable material to obtain the required friction between them, and bar 11, and also to attain reasonable beltlife. In selecting the belt material, consideration must be given to oil, grease, or other lubricant which is bound to. remain on the bars 11 as they emerge-from acold mill.

A preferred arrangement of tires 9 will now be described withreference to Figures 1' to 5. inclusive. Each, tire has a tread ring 66} ofspring steel. It. may conveniently be made from a piece of steel belting bent to a circle and with the ends fastened together by a series of screws 67, in the manner indicated in Figure 5. Immediately inside thetread ring'66 isa layer offabric 6.8 impregnated with rubber and in which a series of pins 69 of spring steel are embedded; The fabric 68 is cut between pins 69, to allowthe steel clips 70--to be inserted. Such-a clip is shown indetail in Figure 8. The balance of the tire 9 consists of 'a rubber'cushion 71, which fills the space between the fabric 68, and the rim of the roll center 8. The inner surface of tread ring- 66, the cylindrical surfaces of'pins 69, the exterior surfacesof clips '70; and the rim of rollcenter 8 where it contacts rubber cushion 71, are subjectedto brass plating or other. suitable treatment, to allow the-rubber'to, be securely bonded to all of these surfaces. The whole tire isthen vulcanized while in position on therim of the-roll'center 8; For this purpose the roll centers 8 are preferably made with de-. mountable rims although, for the sake of. simplicity, I have shown the rims in one piece withzroll centers 8.

The tread ring 66' acts as a-pulley for b61t14. It and the fabric 68-" serve to retain therubber. cushion 71: within fixed limits, controlled by their ownflexibility, under the longitudinal stresses (shear) exerted on the. rubber of cushion 71' when-the belts 14" are causedtopull on a bar 11 by revolving the spindles 4- and 5; The shear load. applied'to the rubber cushion-71 in the effective pressure zone 12 is thus distributedover alarge area alongthe circumference of the cushion. The transverse load put on thecushion 71 in the pressure zone 12 by the roll centers 8, causes it to deflect as indicatedat 1.0 and to trans mit' the load to fabric 68'. The reaction of bar 11. to this load is distributed by belt14, tread ring 66 and fabric 68, but principally by aid of pins.69, to-make the full width of the cushion 71 effective tocarry the reactionof bar 11. The purpose, of clips.70,is to givethenecessary I dled by any suitable means.

Figures 6 and 7 show an alternate to tire 9, suited for greater loads and correspondingly greater pull on bars 11.

In this case a belt 72, tread ring 73, fabric 74 and pins 75 distribute the working loads over a wider rubber cushion 76. The depth of rubber cushion 76 is the same as that of cushion 71 and is limited by manufacturing considerations, but holes 77 are provided, the number and size of which largely control the deflection of the cushion 76 under the working loads.

Having described a stand of tension rolls as shown in Figures 1 through 8, I shall now explain its application and use in conjunction with cold mills. The mill layout shown in Figure 9 is adapted for rolling fromlcoiled blanks by the method specified in my Patent No. 2,400,690, above referred to, but extra tension is therein provided for by the addition of two stands of tension rolls.

These tension rolls in combination with other provisionsalso facilitate entry of the bars into the roll passes and allow the blanks to be rolled to finished size under tension, from end to end, as will now be explained with reference to Figures 9 through 16.

Coiled blanks 78 with projecting ends 79 may be han- As an example, a jib crane may be used to place the coil 78 in coil transfer 80 (Figures 9 and The coil transfer 80 comprises a movable platform 81 with a depression 82 adapted to support a coil 78, and equipped with vertical posts 83 to keep the coil from falling over. On this transfer the coil is moved in axial direction until the lower spindle 84 of an uncoiler 85 projects through its center (Figures 9 and 11). The spindle 84 is then raised to take the weight of the coil and also to press the coil 78 into contact with the upper spindle 86 of un-coiler 85. (Figure 12). In this position the coil 78 is lifted free of coil transfer 80 and the edge of scraper 87 rests on the outer coil surface. The coil 78 is next rotated by revolving the spindles 84 and 86 to cause the projecting end 79 of the coiled blank 78 to be deflected by scraper 87 into overhung straightening rolls 88. Continued rotation of the spindles 84 and 86 and rolls 88 brings the end 79 of the blank into position for a squaring cut by knives 89 of shear 89.

This shear cut is in preparation for the welding of a leading bar 90, of the same shape but preferably slightly smaller than the finished bar to be rolled in the cold mill, onto the now un-coiled end 79 of the blank of coil 78. Leading bars 90 of appropriate length, with their ends squared for butt welding to the un-coiled ends of the blanks in coils 78, are stored on bed 91 (Figure 9). By shuffle bars or other suitable means, they are brought one by one, as required, onto roller table 92 for lengthwise transfer to welder 93. Here the end of a leading barf 90 meets the end 79 of a blank, un-coiled to the. extent required by further rotation of spindles 84 and 86 and rolls 88 (Figures 12 and 13).

When the welding operation is completed, the pressure of lower spindle 84 is released and the upper roll of the overhung straightening rolls 88 is raised sufficiently to free the coil 78 and the un-coiled portion of the blank for broadside transfer, together with the leading bar 90, now attached thereto. The broadside transfer is effected by the coil transfer 80, and rope transfers or other suitable mechanisms for the un-coiled portion of the blank and the leading bar 90. By these means the coil 78 is moved in axial direction by posts 83 until it slips 011 the end of lower spindle 84 onto the platform 81, and the movement is then continued until the lower spindle 94 of a coil carrier 95 projects through the center of coil 78 (Figures 9 and 14). At the same time, leading bar 90 is brought into alignment with the pass line 99 of the cold mill indicated generally at 100.

Referring now to Figures 9, 14 and 15, the lower spindle 94 of coil carrier 95 is next raised to take the weight of the coil 78 and to press the coil into contact with the upper spindle 96, thus freeing the coil 78 from coil transfer 80 for travel with coil carrier 95 along track 97 until the coil carrier reaches position 98 shown in dotted lines in Figure 9. Figure shows the coil 78 in corresponding position with respect to the cold mill 100. As the coil carrier 95 advances with coil 78 along track 97, the coil transfer 80 is free to receive another coil and repeat its cycle of operation.

Except for the addition of two stands of tension rolls 105 and 106, the cold mill 100, used as an illustration, is arranged like the mill shown in Figure 6 of my application 499 ,210 above referred to.

.The section of the blank and the passes in the cold mill rolls 101, 102, 103 and 104 may, as an example, be those illustrated in Figures 1 through 5 of the same application.

It will be noted that the travel of coil carrier 95 with coil 78, having a portion of its blank uncoiled and a leading bar welded thereto, will cause the leading bar 90 to be pushed into the tension rolls 105, as the coil carrier advances on track 97 to position 98. The section of the leading bar 90 being approximately that of the intended mill product, it runs free in the passes of the mill rolls but is gripped by the belts of the tension rolls 105, adjusted for position and speed of rotation to exert a definite pressure and a definite pull on the bars subject to mill reduction. The fact that the groove in these belts is made to fit the rolled section to emerge from the mill rolls 103, will reduce the contact area of the belts and increase their unit pressure on the leading bar 90, but the total load and pull on the leading bar will be but slightly reduced as compared to those on the bars subject to mill reduction.

The pull thus exerted on the leading bar 90 by tension rolls 105, serves to draw the blank of the coil 78 into-the passes in mill rolls 101 and 102. At this stage of progress of the blank through the mill, the forward end of the leading bar 90 is about to be gripped by the belts of tension rolls 106, which are then in position to furnish the pull required for entry of the bar into mill rolls 103 and 104 (Figure 16). It will be readily recognized that the pull thus exerted by the tension rolls 105 and 106 on the leading bar 90 will serve to avoid the difliculties of bar entry, by pulling the bar into the roll passes and thus obviating the present limitations as to feasible pass reductions.

. For a clear understanding of the action of the tension rolls on a bar in the mill, assume that the mill rolls are idlers journailed in anti-friction bearings. The pull exerted by a stand of tension rolls placed after the last set of mill rolls would then be balanced by the resistances offered by the several roll passes, and these resistances in turn would be governed by the respective drafts. If the pull is sufiicient to overcome the total resistance of all the drafts, then the bar travels through the mill subject to tension, increasing for each succeeding draft to total the pull of the tension rolls at the last reduction. By substituting power-driven mill rolls and duly co-ordinating their speeds with that of the tension rolls, it is evident that the resistance of a roll pass to the pull of the tension rolls can be nullified, by making the mill rolls furnish all the energy required for the bar deformation in the pass. The pull of the tension rolls can thus be transmitted for use at the roll pass next preceding. Furthermore, the mill rolls may be controlled for speed so as to add a pull of their own to that of the tension rolls. It fol-'* lows that the pull of the several tension rolls and mill rolls canbe made cumulative in going back through the mill, as the section of the bar increases in area. In other words, the total available pulling capacity can be distributed as required over the various sections of the barin the several roll passes of the mill by speed control of mill and tension rolls.

It will be evident, therefore, that the pull provided by the tension rolls is applicable to the entire length of bar in the mill rolls preceding the tension rolls, and the bar section in each roll-pass can be subjected to their pull, from end to end of bar (if the leading bar be made ing capacity of one stand of tension rolls 105, whereas two stands, 105 and 106, are available thereafter. This difference can of course be eliminated by making the leading bar 90 of sufiicient length to reach tension rolls 106 before the blank enters mill rolls 101. The entire blank would then be treated exactly the same throughout its length except for a short distance at its rear end. While worked upon in rolls 102 for instance the bar is subject to back tension from rolls 101. After the end of the bar leaves the rolls 101, this back tension ceases and the process is repeated when the rear end of the bar leaves the succeeding sets of rolls 102 and 103. With sufiicient tension provided for the bar sections in the several roll passes, however, this lack of back tension will merely increase the work of deformation supplied by the mill rolls, but will not perceptibly afiect the accuracy of the mill product.

7 In anyr event, I have, entirely..- eliminated the. source of scrap lossat the front end, of, the bar and greatly, reduced;

the likelihood of, scrap. lossat the rear end, by-providlng meansv for, exerting; the desired pull. out the bar section; in each 'ollpassin working'the bar inthe mill,. from. end. to'en A-fter completingthe rolling of; a bar, the-leading bar 90. is v sheared therefrom. The leading. bars are used re: peatedly, and, a suitable, storage space should. be, provided. in: the mill building; to house sulficient numbers of suchv bars, of the various sections required. for, the several: prod ucts; of the mill. A. shear for. squaring; the ends of the: bars may conveniently be located in, this, storage, orit, may, be-placedin the line of, roller table 92,,betweenwthe bed 91 and, welder 93 (Figure. 9.),

An alternate layoutto; cold mill is indicated generally in plan view at 1017 in, Figures 17A, and.v 17B. It:

has a. set. of vertical mill rolls lllllbfiollowed, by. two-sets of horizontal mill rolls 109, and, 110, anda set; of vertical finishing rolls- 111. Tension rolls 112, 113 and 11.4,. of the:- type already described, areplaced. after millrolls 108,

109 and 111. This is a preferred layout for; the, cold-;

from pass 127 in rolls'108. Theclearances122can be.

almost a slidingfit; since the bar is cold and oily', but-L prefer. to make itsomewhat larger: and provide idler roll ers123 for the accurate guidingof, section 116. Guide friction can thusbereducedto aminimum, by mounting the rollers 123-; on roller bearings 124:, andpossible guide scratchingof the barcan. beavoided.

Entry guides 125, similarly held in place,- and. adjusted. onthe entry. side of, mill, rolls 109, and: idler rollers 126, providethe-same clearance; for a bar: 128, of oval section. 1156. as, it approaches-the pass 129=inmill rolls 109:

Any ordinary hot-rolled commercial round: may be used-as a blank in cold-rolling precision roundsof smaller size-J If in coilform, it is entered in the cold mill. inthe samemanner. as already'described for coiled. blanks with major and minor axes and as illustrated in Figuresv 9 through 16. The leading; bars should preferably be of: length. to reach the tension rolls 114" before the endsof the; commercial rounds reach, the: mill rollsv 108.

As the,- leading bar, butt-welded to. the uncoiled' end; of, the commercial round, enters the mill:10.7, it passes freely through the mill rolls;108 109, ;and:1-11 and through; the, guides 120 and 125, but is gripped by tension rolls 112, 1-13-.andi114'.. Asthe commercial round is pulled into pass 127 in mill rolls 108, it has a tendency-to turn around ltSyOWll. axis to accommodate itself to the path of least resistance, due to the fact that the. section is not a true round; A 1" commercial round, for example, may be as, much as .013 out-of-round at any given point along its length, causing a turning moment on the bar as it travels into the pass 127.

This turning moment will be resisted by the leading bar, firmly held against rotation by. the elastic grips of tension rolls 1'12, 113 and 114, while the end of bar- 128 of oval section 116, rolled from the commercial round 1.15 in mill, rolls 108, advances through delivery guides 120 to engagement with a groove, shaped tofittheoval 116, inthe belts of tension rolls. 112; The; continued pull of tension rolls113and114 onthe leading bar serves to properlysteer the bar 128 of oval section: 116 intoentry guides 125 and the pass'129: in mill rolls. 109. The preferably circular section 117; emerg-. ingfrom mill rolls 109, is pulled by the leading bar into itsgroove in thebelts of tension rolls 113 and entered into the mill rolls 110, shaped to produce ovalsection. 118. This section in turn is entered by the leading bar into mill rollsv 111 for rolling to a finished round 119,,

Thefunctions of; the leading bar are now. completed; and the commercial, round isenteredthrough; the: mill. In the meantime the guides and have taken. over the duty:- ofkeeping the; ban from rotating around itSLOWIl. Theycontrol the positionof oval 1; 16-and. thus-resist the turning; moment. on commercial round11'5. By virtue; of; the stiffness. of the cold bar,

they; also keep, it from. turning; in. anyv of the severalpasses}. of; mill 10'7;v Another. purpose of guides 120 is I0 control the, position. ofv oval 116 close. to the pass 127, beforeany tendency of; the bar to turn has a chance to develop. 'lhe guides 125 also controhthe. position of oval 116-1 close to pass129 forv accurate entry.

The, tension. rolls. alone, with their grips on the leadingbars: and;the barsbei-ng. rolled, may be sufficient to properly. guide. the bars, being. rolled from commercial rounds,v so; that guides 1'20 and 125 will not be needed, but;1 prefer todepend on such guides.

The use; ofv tension: rolls and leading bars. to enter the. blanks, through. the; cold. mill greatly facilitates the problemtof accurately guiding the bar, and thus allows the; stands:,of mill rolls, to. be placed further apart thanin, case. of my copending applications. above referred to.

Since the causes of scrap loss at the ends ofeach bar have alsobeen-v eliminated or greatly reduced, as already explained, the stand; centers may now. be selected. with more consideration. to practicalv mill design.

Having described my invention as applied to coldrolling; of; rounds, from coiled blanks with major and m-inonaxes-inmill; 100.. and fromcoils of commercial ..-by,run-,outtable 13'1 and transfers 133: and 134 to tables 135 andr136, for division into final lengths by shear 137, saws-13S; and. 139, or other suitable cutting apparatus. The; finished-lengths are collected in a cradle or. On beds: 141' and. 142 respectively, for removal by an overhead crane.

In case of a relatively small'order for bars of a given section, the-total number ofv leading bars needed to fill theorder may be placed on bed-91', later recovered from cradle 132(Figure 17B), and returned to the storage space above referred:- to, for use on another occasion. The handling of theleading bars is preferably done by overhead crane.

In case of alarge order for barsof a given size, there may not be enough leading bars on hand, and the same setgof such bars may be used. repeatedly: until the order is completed.

So far, I havereferred particularly to cold-rolling from coiled blanks or coiled commercial. rounds. evident, however, that mills 100rand 107 and;the layout shownin Figures 17A and. 17B for handling the mill product, are equally well suited for straight lengths of such blanks and rounds. The layout ahead of the cold mill, shown in- Figure-9, can readily. bemodified to allow for welding. of leadingbars to the ends of straight blanks or straightcommercial: rounds, and for feeding the buttweldedi lengths to the mill; The proceedings for bar entry, rolling-andguiding, remain the same as those alreadydescribed with reference to mills 100 and 107. In; this. connection. it will benotedthat blanks with major and. minor axes are entered in positionto guide themselves, throng-lithe mill along the path ofleast resistance;.

Whereasl; havedescribed my new method and apparatus, with particular reference to cold-rolling of accurate rounds, one of the more difiicult: sections to produce,

it will be: evident that they are adaptable for precision cold-rolling, of otherxshapes, involving in some cases merelyachangenintheshape ofrtheroll passes in the milLand-the grooves in the belts of thetension rolls. In

. otherzcaseswit maybe necessary to use tension rolls with horizontalspindles-or toumodify. the tire design, to meet the requirements of diflerent shapes.

My tension rollsmay. also be used in connection with leading. bars tocolddraw hot-rolledstraight bars through 1 dies- (or idler rollers), as a sizing operation, for great accuracy. For this purpose the bars would be hot-rolled to. a1: sizersomewhat larger: than the finished r barrequired. By buttawel'ding-a leadingbar tothe hot-rolled bar and feeding the leadingbar through a die, such as is now used'afor. coldtdrawing (or through idler-rollers), until It will be 9 10 it is gripped by one or more sets of tension rolls, the References Cited in the file of this patent hot-rolled bar can quickly be pulled into and through the die (or rollers), for sizing by cold drawing. The UNITED STATES PATENTS principal advantages of this scheme of cold drawing, are the speed and economy of operation as compared to Number Name Date draw-benches now in use. The bar can be caught on 582,191 Ellis May 11, 1897 the fly in the tension rolls and successive bars can follow 669,733 Perry Mar. 12, 1901 closely, without time loss for re-setting the pulling ap- 691,789 Mann Jan. 28, 1902 paratus. Furthermore, great lengths can be drawn, un- 1,139,884 Mellen May 18, 1915 limited as far as the tension rolls are concerned. Full 1,184,972 Lloyd May 30, 1916 cooling bed lengths can thus be used as compared to the 1,23 8,002 Coryell Aug. 21, 1917 relatively short lengths that can be accommodated in 1,403,377 Barclay Jan. 10, 1922 present draw benches. This in itself is an economic ad 1,618,515 Coryell Feb. 22, 1927 vantage, the importance of which needs no further ex- 1,759,105 Evans May 20, 1930 planation. 1,776,775 Biggert Sept. 30, 1930 Although I have described certain preferred applica- 1,833,330 Palmgren Nov. 24, 1931 tions of my invention, its advantages may be realized in 1,901,514 Herman et a1. Mar. 14, 1933 other ways within the scope of the appended claim. 1,904,885 Seeley Apr. 18, 1933 I claim: 1,911,157 Leech Mar. 23, 1933 In a traction roll for advancing a bar being rolled, a 2,297,296 Flintjer Sept. 29, 1942 metal roll center, a yielding belt tread trained there- 2,353,290 Bennewitz July 11, 1944 arourgd, a tire (an said center iiaclucfling 211 serieis of dmetal 2,438,448 Morton Mar. 23, 1948 mem ers exten ing transversey o sai trea an embedded in a cushion of yielding material, the metal mem- FOREIGN PATENTS bers of said series progressively serving to distribute the Number Country Date applied load over said cushion to reduce the unit load 398,039 Great Britain Sept. 7, 1933 on said cushion material in the zone of pressure application. 

